If the average resident of the post-Soviet space has somehow managed to make friends with cinnamon powder, cinnamon sticks, which went on sale later than their crushed analogue, can still cause many unnecessary questions. In fact, the use of cinnamon sticks is about the same as that of powder, except that you can not add them to baking, but we will discuss the detailed recipes further.
How to use cinnamon sticks?
Cinnamon rolled into a tube is nothing more than a very fragrant bark of Ceylon cinnamon, which is dried before selling. As a consequence, in order to get the maximum flavor and taste of spices, a cinnamon stick must be boiled or boiled with boiling water, which is why most often cinnamon in the form of a stick can be found in drink recipes, like the following.
Cider with cinnamon stick
Ingredients:
- red apples (large) - 6 pcs .;
- apple cider - 0,7 l;
- cinnamon sticks - 3 pcs .;
- anise stars - 2 pcs .;
- lemon - 1 pc.
Preparation
Pour cider into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. After boiling, the fire is subtracted and we put spices into the liquid: a cinnamon stick and anise. Cook the drink under the lid for 20 minutes.
During this time we make from the whole apples "cups", extracting from the fruit the core with seeds and part of the pulp so that the walls and the bottom remain intact. Fill each apple "cup" with a fragrant drink and decorate with the same cinnamon sticks.
How to make tea with cinnamon sticks?
Ingredients:
- water - 500 ml;
- favorite tea - 1 teaspoon;
- 2 cinnamon sticks;
- 3 buds of a carnation;
- lemon peel and orange.
Preparation
Pour a half liter of water into the kettle and set it to reach the boil. While the water is boiling, put a spoonful of your favorite tea and spices in the teapot - carnation buds and cinnamon sticks. In addition, we remove the zest from the citrus fruit and also put it in the future tea. pour the aromatic contents of the kettle with boiling water, cover it with a lid and leave the tea for 5 minutes. When the drink is brewed, it can be supplemented with a teaspoon of rum, or you can drink it in a non-alcoholic variant.
Classical Pakistani coffee with a cinnamon stick
Ingredients:
- water 750 ml;
- milk - 750 ml;
- cinnamon stick;
- cardamom - 5 pcs .;
- Ground coffee - 3 tbsp. spoons.
Preparation
In a small saucepan we fall asleep coffee, there we send a stick of cinnamon and chopped cardamom. Fill the contents of the saucepan with a mixture of milk and water and put everything on the fire. While coffee is brewed, and it takes about 10 minutes, it is necessary to stir the coffee all the time, to take a drink with a spoon and pour from the height, so that a large bubble foam develops on the surface. Next, it remains only to pour the coffee into small cups and add sugar to taste.
Using cinnamon sticks in main courses
With cinnamon sticks, not only drinks, but also meat dishes, like this beef stew, are flavored.
Ingredients:
- beef - 900 g;
- vegetable oil - 45 ml;
- white onion - 100 g;
- carrots - 80 g;
- stalks of celery - 80 g;
- garlic cloves - 3 pcs .;
- peel and juice 1 orange;
- Balsamic vinegar - 60 ml;
- water - 1 l;
- cinnamon stick;
- laurel leaves - 2 pieces;
- a branch of rosemary and thyme.
Preparation
In a heated brazier, fry the diced beef until a characteristic golden color is found on the meat slices. After, we lay out the beef on the plate, and in its place we pass all the vegetables for 8 minutes. Mix them with meat, add cinnamon, laurel, rosemary and thyme, grated zest and orange juice, paste from garlic and keep still a minute to "reveal" the fragrance. Next, pour the contents of the brazier with water and vinegar and simmer under the lid for 2 hours. Before consumption, both cinnamon and herbs are extracted.